[SOLVED] A disk read error occurred.

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 08:51 AM

Hello,
My system is dual boot (Debian and Windows 7). On Windows OS, I worked with Eraser (https://eraser.heidi.ie/) and wanted to select a Flash Drive, but mistakenly, selected Drive C. System hanged and when I rebooted the system manually then, the system show me below error:

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I booted my system with Ubuntu Live CD and tried to fix it, but all of my partitions are removed:

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Are they removed really? Why Linux can't boot? How to fix it?

Thank you.

Emerson · 03-30-2021, 09:01 AM

Partition table is just a small chunk of data in the beginning of drive, in case of MBR it is located in the first sector. You erase the first sector and there won't be any partitioning left. The data on your drive would still be intact, if you write this partition table back all partitions and files will reappear. If you deleted more than the first sector then the damage is greater and some files will be lost for good.

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Partition table is just a small chunk of data in the beginning of drive, in case of MBR it is located in the first sector. You erase the first sector and there won't be any partitioning left. The data on your drive would still be intact, if you write this partition table back all partitions and files will reappear. If you deleted more than the first sector then the damage is greater and some files will be lost for good.

How to write partition table back?

pan64 · 03-30-2021, 09:36 AM

you can try a recovery tool like ddrescue.

Emerson · 03-30-2021, 09:44 AM

The tool to restore partition table is testdisk. There are many tutorials about its usage.

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan64

you can try a recovery tool like ddrescue.

Can it fix my system boot without data loss? If yes, then how?

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

The tool to restore partition table is testdisk. There are many tutorials about its usage.

I can't install it on Ubuntu Live

Emerson · 03-30-2021, 10:43 AM

Many (most?) liveCD's already have it, no need to install.

Edit: ddrescue is useful in case of drive failure, as it tries to read bad sectors. In your case photorec is more useful to try and recover files.

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Many (most?) liveCD's already have it, no need to install.

My Ubuntu version is:

Code:

Linux ubuntu 4.10.0-19-generic #21-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 6 17:03:14 UTC 2017 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

It doesn't have testdisk tool.

Emerson · 03-30-2021, 11:05 AM

GRML, SystemRescue, there's more. Take an old (small) USB flash drive and dedicate it to rescue software.

n00b_noob · 03-30-2021, 11:16 AM

I used "Rescatux" live CD and my problem solved. I booted it on a USB and fixed my system.